Category Archives: Hikes & Scrambles

Hagar Mountain Ski

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Earlier this month Rick, J, and I headed into Dry Gulch looking to get up high and make some turns down something resembling a ski line. With either Snoopy’s Collar on The Citadel or else Hagar Mountain in mind, we chose to go for the latter after seeing the snow coverage in the area firsthand. The southeast face of Hagar was a line I skied in May a few years back that I always figured would make for a good repeat. Tough to find a line more reliable and close-to-home than this one. Keep Reading…

Golden Bear the Interesting Way

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Suddenly the holidays arrived, and I realized I’d not been in the mountains since mid-October. It would feel like a sin with this crazy warm weather, except that’s just it: when each weekend has brought 60s and sunshine down in Denver, the bike’s siren call cancels out that of a thirteener with upper 30s and wind chill. Keep Reading…

Elk Range “Minimidal Traverse”

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Ben and I had anticipated the “Megamidal” or “Megamydal” traverse (as dubbed on 14ers.com) both of the prior two summers, so it became a must-do for us in 2017. This loop from Maroon Lake goes over 5 thirteeners from close to West Maroon Pass out along the Len Shoemaker Ridge, with finish on fourteener Pyramid Peak. As it worked out we ended up skipping Pyramid, and thus this became the “Minimidal Traverse”. August 19th became the day. A great forecast; only a small chance of rain after 1pm. Ben and Rick practically ran up the trail in the dark, while I clambered behind. Read more…

Sawtooth Intro: Williams and Thompson Peaks

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Mary Beth and I visited friends who recently moved to Boise, and we enjoyed some camping in the Sawtooth region. Camping is hard to come by: the campsites all around Redfish Lake fill up quickly. When we came into the tiny town of Stanley on Wednesday, August 2, we thought there might be sites available, but we found ourselves camped on a high mountain road several miles northeast. One perk was that we had a nice little stream by our camp and we were comfortably above the haze from wildfires in Oregon. Read more…